Bruce Morcombe

Ten years ago you made a choice to rip our family apart. Your decision to pull over and abduct Daniel for your own evil pleasure ultimately caused a level of personal pain to each of us that has made it hard to go on.

Over the years, we made a face for media with determined self-control on the outside. On many occasions, particularly in the first few months, I was physically ill each morning at the unbearable images of what may have happened to my son Daniel.

Even today I am haunted by thoughts of how long he was actually held captive and what other unspeakable things you did in those sheds at the end of Kings Road at Beerwah.

Why would you really dump someone without clothes? Why was his belt loose and not still looped through his hands? It makes me nauseous, just thinking about your total lack of respect for a child's life.

Listening to you describe and watching you with a smirk on your face how you threw Daniel's lifeless body down an embankment and a week later you returned and crushed his skull with a shovel - "chop, chop, chop, chop, chop", you coldly explained in an emotionless, matter of fact way.

That feeling of helplessness and unimaginable pain never leaves you.

Bruce Morcombe

We now have to live out our days with the unimaginable images of wild dogs devouring our much-loved son's remains. Daniel did not deserve that.

He was a great kid and would not hurt a fly. You have robbed him of 70 years of life.

Our family's first sleepless night without Dan on December 7, 2003 haunts me even today. That feeling of helplessness and unimaginable pain never leaves you.

The next day I recall picking up Dean after work in the afternoon on Monday, December 8 - he asked me, "have they found Daniel?" These are four small words that torture me even today, because I had to answer "no".

I listened to Denise's broken sleep punctuated by frequent nightmares. And looking into the face of my young twin boy, who has lost his soul mate - a raw image that is often relived which had a profound effect on how I functioned.

Nothing about my life today resembles how we enjoyed life as a family before that day.

Our friends from 2003 are different because we are no longer the same people. We can be short-tempered and have a streak of bitterness and carry-on, caused by your delirious, selfish actions.

We were forced to move away from our unique garden paradise and much-loved family home. We were running a successful small business that we were forced to sell. We could not return to regular employment because we were constantly distracted with disturbing thoughts.

We were forced to sell all our other investments to be able to survive. But survive we did - because you made one monumental mistake that day - you picked on the wrong family.

Our collective determination to find Daniel and expose a child killer was always going to win.

Perhaps the greatest impact your heinous crimes had on me is being witness to the impact it has on the people that I love.

You have caused immeasurable mental stress and anxiety to not only me, but to Daniel's mother, Denise, Daniel's brother, Dean, and Daniel's twin, Bradley.

I have also witnessed the impact your cold, calculating actions caused to extended family members. Daniel's grandparents have had years of healthy living trimmed off their life.

Daniel's uncles and aunts and cousins plus mates at school have all been seriously impacted by what you did.

I often wonder about the other victims who you have left in your wake. That too, causes me moments of great sadness. Your own children are, of course, victims of your crimes and I wonder about them.

In a strange twist of fate, the Daniel Morcombe Foundation was established to educate children about personal safety and also assist young victims of crime.

I have sat watching you in the same court for close to 40 days, covering the coronial inquest, the committal hearing, the pre-trial hearing and your trial here.

Throughout that time, you have been completely devoid of any remorse of what you did to Daniel. Your deliberate actions are now recorded for all to see. It is the most brazen crime that has shocked the nation. Sitting in the same room as you revolts me.

How you sit there day after day, almost frozen in the one position, is chilling. You have been convicted as a repeat sex offender, leaving a trail of destruction, distress and damage to souls for three decades.

Predators like you cannot be rehabilitated.

A cunning plan by police ... has brought you unbalanced. You have been exposed an an opportunistic, perverted, cold-blooded, child-killing paedophile.

Central to the facts of not who done it, but you done it - may Daniel's soul rest in peace.

Denise Morcombe

Victim impact statement read by lawyer in court on her behalf

The first second that Daniel was born eight weeks' premature, I knew he was special. His big eyes stared at me and we bonded immediately. Nobody will ever know the love I felt for Daniel.

At 4:00pm Sunday, December 7, 2003, while getting Daniel's clothes off the line, I knew something was wrong. Daniel wasn't due to return to the bus stop until 5:30pm but for some unknown reason I was anxious.

Hence, I went to see if he was there at 4:30pm. I don't know what it was, but I knew that when Bruce returned home soon after 5:30pm from the bus stop without him, I knew that I would not see him again.

I made a vow to Daniel I would find out where he is and that justice would be done. For years, I have not slept for more than three hours at a time. I have lived and breathed each day to find the answers.

I have bad nightmares every couple of weeks, screaming out "no, no, I won't go with you".

I see my son lying by himself in that dark, eerie bushland, being destroyed by wild animals. You, Mr Cowan, left him there - you had no respect for a human life.

It was an innocent boy, starting to grow up, and learning about life.

Only you know how petrified he was as you drove down Kings Road with him.

Denise Morcombe

He was gentle, he loved animals, and wanted to be a vet. He would never hurt a soul. He was scared of the dark, and often slept on the floor next to me.

Mr Cowan, only you know how petrified he was as you drove down Kings Road with him. But I can only imagine. Mr Cowan, only you know Daniel's last look in his eyes as you choked him to death, but I can only imagine.

My life is not the same as 10 years ago. A different house, a different job, different friends. My family has also been destroyed. Not only has your deliberate, calculated actions affected me, Bruce, Dean and Bradley, but it has destroyed my parents, my brothers, and extended family.

Gone are happy family functions we can all enjoy. You took that away from us. We all know one person is not there and we will never recover from that.

Mr Cowan, I saw you smiling with your son ... and former wife in a photo taken on Boxing Day, 2003. You had a smirk like nothing had happened - a happy family snap. Meanwhile, my family was living in hell, searching for our son, who you knew was dead.

I hope you have a life of loneliness, and [you're] unloved for your entire life. I hope you are never released - that you have no remorse for any of your past horrific crimes against innocent children.

This day hasn't brought closure but the streets are safer without you walking them and looking for your next target to destroy.

Your mistake was you picked on Daniel to release your animalistic, sexual needs. You are a burdened soul, who didn't realise that his mother would never give up searching for answers and how much I loved him. He was, and still is, a part of me.

That was your mistake, you evil, evil, unhuman being.

I hope your jail time is difficult and you're never released.

For me, I have a purpose. As thanks to all who have searched for Daniel, I wish to explain this tragic story. I will continue my work with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, teaching children to be aware of people like you.

I do wish and hope there will never be another child who will go through what Daniel did from a sexual freak like you.

I have accepted I will never see Daniel again, and I have no control of what your sentence is. But if there is a God, and he knows the love a mother can have for her son, you will pay for your actions and you will pay dearly.

Dean Morcombe, Daniel's older brother

Brett Cowan, what you did December 7, 2003, has impacted hundreds of people.

Daniel was my brother, and you have robbed him of a life he would've loved to have lived, robbed Bradley of a twin and a lifelong best friend, robbed my parents of a son that they loved, robbed us of being a normal family ever again.

When Daniel didn't come home on December 7 all those years ago, right from the start we knew this was out of character.

Nothing in my life would ever be the same again.

Dean Morcombe

I had only started working full-time the previous week. While working on Monday December 8, a news report came over the radio, that Daniel was missing and I broke down, knowing that something was not right. That afternoon, having to give a police statement and the following weeks, having police at home every day, it started to sink in, the severity of what might be.

December 19 would have been Daniel's 14th birthday. Watching how crushed my family was that he had not returned was heart-breaking.

The emotion on everybody's faces, especially Bradley's, as we tried to celebrate what should have been an enjoyable day, will stay with me forever. Then Christmas a week later - what should have been another enjoyable day, was nothing short of painful. Nothing in my life would ever be the same again.

The years that followed, seeing my grandparents emotionally go downhill because Daniel was still not found, seeing the anger and pain impacting my parents, putting immeasurable pressure on their marriage. And not knowing if he was alive, and keeping my hopes up to see him again, or if he was dead, trying to move on. Not finding a body for all those years definitely took its toll on me.

But even when he was found, heading to the police station to put on a full forensic suit - shoe covers, gloves, mask - to walk to where you left Daniel, was an unbearable thing to do.

Hearing [inaudible] that you wanted to suck Daniel's penis, make him suck yours and take him, is sickening.

But your complete lack of remorse for killing him is worse.

[Inaudible] throwing him off an embankment, dragging him along the ground, leaving him [inaudible] unburied, naked, and then going back to chop up his skull with a shovel. These are the acts of [a] psychopath who cannot be rehabilitated.

I'm glad you have been exposed for the murderer and sexual predator that you are. Rest in peace Daniel.

Bradley Morcombe, Daniel's twin brother

Victim impact statement read by lawyer in court on his behalf

It is 10-and-a-half years since you robbed me of my twin brother. You have had a detrimental impact on my life over this time and I will never be the same for the rest of my life.

In December 2003, Daniel and I had just finished grade nine, we were looking forward to enjoying six weeks school holidays together. We shared hobbies and interests, and a bond that was special - a bond only twins can experience.

Twelve days after you abducted and murdered my brother, it was our joint 14th birthday. Teenage birthdays are supposed to be fun and something you look forward to. This was not a fun day, it was torture.

Another week would pass, and that was Christmas Day. Another painful day for me and all of the family. Daniel and I also had a trip to Melbourne booked in January to visit our grandparents. I ended up flying down alone.

Time after time, day after the day, special event after special event, none of them would be the same again.

Daniel cannot join me for a beer, nor be my best man at my wedding.

Bradley Morcombe

Ten years have now passed, and milestone occasions are never celebrated like they should have been. My 18th and 21st birthdays have come and gone, without a double celebration. That hurts me.

I gained my driver's licence and bought my first car without Daniel - moments that should've been shared.

I will never [forget] the first night of his disappearance. I slept in bed with Mum and Dad and it was the worst night imaginable. We hardly slept at all, and we were all very distraught.

Returning to school was tough. I struggled with the attention. Everyone was very supportive and kind, but I could never be that boy in the background anymore. I completely lost my way academically. My grades suffered and I lacked concentration at school.

This caused me not to return after grade 11. I could no longer handle the focus on me and the attention of being Daniel's brother at school, at home, or anywhere I went. I have become very withdrawn.

I had ambitions of going on to university and becoming a pilot, but all these dreams eventually fall apart. I am not the person I could have been. I am consistently angry and battle mood swings.

But life goes on. Thanks to family support, I have held a steady job since I left school. I am getting married in August of this year. I hope, with my fiancee, to purchase a home.

But it never leaves you. Daniel cannot join me for a beer, nor be my best man at my wedding.